Saturday, December 31, 2011

15 comments:

Anonymous
said...

I purposely did not stay with CNN this year because of Kathy Griffin.I find her actions inexcusable and here's what I learned from surfingthe channels.Ryan Seacrest isn't a bad host.He's pleasant, but I'm not a fan and Disney seems to like him and he was down amongst the crowd most of the time and introduced both Dick Clark and Lady Gaga.Lady Gaga is a very talented Lady and certainly knows how to market herself and poor Dick Clark needs to retire.Megan Kelly complained of the cold to Bill Hemmer on Fox News, but the two blended nicely and Megan, it wasn't cold.And finally I did catch Kathy Griffin and AC, and it was the wrong time or maybe the right time, depending on which side of the aisle you're on.She was, and I hate to even type this, practically "licking Anderson's face with her tonque."I was right all along and if that brings CNN ratings, than let the trash pile up.Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to all. Well 2012 is now here.Monday marks the starting point for Januaryratings. We will be watching to see what reallyhappens in cable news. College Bowls will havesome impact on the ratings in cable news.

The end of March 2012 will wrap up the 1st quarter and that is a great time to measurewhere things are going

We will be watching and pouring over data tosee if we are able to follow any trends. So manyquestions have to be answered. Will CNN, FNC& MSNBC be up or down ? Will there be moreprogramming changes ? Will 1 network be abig winner and another a big loser ? Who cansay how things will play out. We will be trackingand analyzing the data.

We admire all of the fine journalists at CNNand wish them the best for 2012 . We all understand that there are many problems atCNN but majority of the news staff are not making the decisions that can lead to problems.

Hopefully, by the weekend we can post ourthoughts on week 1.

CNN starts with changes in the lineup cometomorrow morning. We get Early Start & StartingPoint. Will things get better or worse for CNN in2012 ? Stay Tuned.

Has anyone seen a promo for Early Start orStarting Point ? Why is CNN not letting theirviewers know about the changes ? They dowant the shows to succeed ? Probably not.That is CNN for you these days. News is notthat important anymore at CNN. Na Na NaNa , Hey Hey Hey , Goodbye. CNN not doingnews would be like ESPN not covering sports.But that is the difference between the 2. ESPNmanagement is smart enough not to destroytheir brand. The E.D. Hill hiring is a blaringexample of how clueless CNN managementreally is these days.MSNBC & FNC don't haveto take CNN seriously at all. CNN is it's ownworst enemy.

Good for MSNBC, taking a full page add in the NYT to celebrate the successful rise of their morning show, "Morning Joe."They promoted it and management took a chance on being outspoken and a bit different, more like radio/TV broadcasting, and viewersanswered in numbers.Unlike CNN, who sees no reason to promote their morning show and calling it some silly name, Early Start or Starting Point.Why not something like Rise and Shine with Soledad?At least giving this talented anchor who has done outstanding documentaries, her own show, shows they have confidence in her ability.But NO. They'll keep promoting the losers, Erin Burnett and Piers Moron, and then lie and tell us how wonderfully well the two are doing.Same stuff for 2012 on CNN.Hey, that's their next slogan.

As usual, Anderson and Kathy were fantastic together, I love them both and I hope CNN continues to pair them up. Kathy is smart and quick with her quips and AC is always warm and genial and snarky with her. It's easy to tell that they like each other a lot and that makes it fun for the audience. According to TV By The Numbers, AC and Kathy beat Fox's New Year's show, but I'm not surprised. I don't see any point in watching Fox or their dull hosts. Anderson and Kathy have the winning combination.

CNN is toast. If you have a show called Early Startclaiming to be news from A to Z, you better be forreal. All they did was change the anchors. CNN isgoing with the same tired old formulas. Repetitionand talking heads. At 5 AM in the morning you can't have pundits on a news show. You are tellingme that no one at CNN could not come up with atleast 25 news stories, interesting topics, sportsetc. to produce an hours worth of content. Hello,where's the video/sound and nice mix of storiesCNN always set their shows up for failure, doingthe same old things over and over again that hasbrought them ratings woes in the morning. CNNfails to understand that Way Too Early/Mj aresuccessful because they broke the mold. CNNhandcuffs and drags down all of their shows bynot letting them have their own unique styles.I feel badly for Asleigh Banfield & Zoraida Sambolin. They deserve a chance CNN. Themanagement needs to top being control freaks.For once CNN hired some decent talent withenergy and personality challenged.

Prediction : Starting Point will have worst ratingsthan Early Start. At least Asleigh & Zoraida areenergetic and you can see they are putting theirheart & soul into making Early Start a hit. It isthe content that is the big drag on Early Start.

Starting Point has no point 120 minutes of mindless chatter. Snoozefest, blah blah, CharlieBrown teacher. Can't take it in more flip toMorning Joe. Their crew does not mind mixingwith locals. CNN can't keep doing Talk Radioon TV. What is CNN trying to implement., TalkRadio Killed A Video Star. Soledad for 2 hourssolo is pretty boring. Right now MSNBC is not worried and LMFAO. CNN didn't change athing . It is very likely the format of both showswill lead to big bumps for Way Too Early &Morning Joe. Is there anyone in managementwho was not raised on a diet of pundits & opinion. CNN it is now 2012 and CNN shows nosigns of reforming itself into a 21st centurynews org. The world does not stop if are miredin the past.CNN is not doing anything to improvetheir situation. In many ways they are digging adeeper hole for themselves. I can't see myselfwatching CNN much longer. I keep waiting forCNN to get itself together and know who theyreally are (worldwide news org) .MSNBC is faringbetter than CNN because they understand youwill never gain on FNC by doing the same thing.That is just being lazy and won't work.FNCviewers call CNN the Communist network.They don't want to watch CNN. Try makinga play for the millions and wide majority ofAmericans who don't watch news because itis not news on cable TV.

CNN is trying to do cheap news shows and thatis not CNN. For goodness sakes pay the musicfees. CNN needs a music director who can comeup with the perfect song list for news stories andsegments. Hire video editor/producers who canwork magic with video & music. There are somany songs they could have used this morning.You gotta put on a show for viewers.

Is CNN even in the big leaguesanymore. It looks like amateurhour.Why would you want to keepit on the downlow that CNN hassome new shows. Anon 9:27 I thinkyou mean that Ashleigh & Zoraida.are likable and have personalities that viewers can connect with butCNN just seems incapable of doinganything right.The frustation youmention is so true.

If that is the format for Soledad,she is going to get killed in theratings by Morning Joe. Televsionis a visual medium. You really have to pay attention to everydetail from content, graphicscamera shots, story flow and pace.

Maybe none of the formats are apermanent thing. You have a pointabout music, 3 things are on inthe morning when I wake up. I'msurfing the internet for news,listening to songs on the Ipodor Ipad if I have more time. Atthe same time the TV is on to catch some news.Sometimes I evenswitch to MTV when I grow tiredof too much politics.

Morning Joe took out the ad tolet CNN know that they are readyfor a fight and will concede nothing. It was in your face.They noticed that CNN had no promos for new shows.

CNN should not be making it difficult for the show to bea success. Maybe it was a rushjob and everything was not quiteready. I like Soledad, Asleigh& Zoraida.I just hope the suitshave their backs.

Kathy Griffin had to "strip" in order to get ratings and Anderson needs her tasteless wit, because he's as dry as toast by himself.Yes, you're right, "a winning CABLE COMBINATION."The one nite of the year CNN is able to win in ratings because no one else will stoop to their levelof sleeze.

My heart goes out to these 3 ladies.This launch went badly.CNN is too monolithic with theirshows. They all look alike.Alreadyboth shows are being called nothingbut TSR & John King, USA. Both shows were too pundit heavy.Also,people are calling out CNN forhaving pundits come on to repeatand rehash the same old tired lines. CNN has got to decrease thefacetime they give pundits.Bothshows had better pick up their sotry count. The # 1 criticismseems to be where is the news ?CNN ruined any chance the ladieshad. CNN needed to knock it out ofthe ball park but they struck out.The new CBS Morning Show willstart soon. There is very littletime to fix this. In many ways,CNN did set them up for failure.There is no excuse for not havingpromos for new shows.

Anderson Cooper gave up his winning combination with Kelly Ripa on "Live" a very popular show to have his own dull talkfest and seeing him with Griffin, who looks more like a drag queen every year, was an equally bad decision.The only win in this was CNN for promoting the lowest common denominator on NYE as entertainment.

Rock Center with Brian Williams is nothing like anything on CNN or anything on cable.Someone here commented that Rock Center had hip music.Well, it does, but only in appropriate places, when they shift from one segment to the other, and it isn't the music that makes it hip. It is the show's pacing and Brian William's ability to be agileand at ease and connect easily with the viewers.He ANCHORS this program behind a desk, but does not do the reporting, just introduces the segment and has a Q & A after it.He's energetic and isn't afraid to adlib and not be glued to the teleprompter.This program is done well and not slapped together and Brian Williams, as well as NBC, deserves praise for trying something fresh and tasteful.There's a reason he's Broadcast's #1 and Jon Stewart's best friend.

No one can say for certain howthings will turn out for CNN &it's competitors in 2012. Thatsaid, CNN has to get srious andget in the game.Later today wewill get some ratings for the 1stMonday in cable news. Later thisweek we will see how things turnedout in week 1. There is a long wayto go before anything materializes.

It may be the holiday blues, but AC got a 90 in his demos on Wednesday at 8PM and he didn't do much better the following Thursday at 10PM with a 353 in totals.So how's his talkfest going?Better than his News show I hope.Where's Kathy Griffin when you really need her?

Well looks like Kathy Griffin will be back even though Fox News is slowly closing in on CNN.Yes, CNN won the ratings on cable, in the demos, but not the totals.So KG will have to take it "all off," next year.All I can say is UGH!